Foldaway steps



n 9, 1964 .1. HORVATH ETAL 3,136,336

FOLDAWAY STEPS Filed July 5, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 K INVENTORS JOSEPH HORVATH WERNER JUNG ATTY.

n 1964 J. HQRVATH ETAL FOLDAWAY STEPS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 5, 1962 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIII1 FIG. 4

FIG. 3

FIG.5.

INVENTORS JOSEPH HORVATH WERNER J UNG ATTY.

United States Patent Our invention relates in general to a foldaway step and I more specifically to a step mounted preferably on the inside of the door of a kitchen cabinet or the like and arranged to be folded away flat against the inside of the door when not in use, and dropped down and outward to form a step after the door is opened. 7 v 7 It is well known that housewives often find it diflicult to reach the contentsof the upper cabinets in a kitchen and often only a low step is necessary to reach these shelves rather than the higher steps of the usual kitchen step stool. It is often unhandy to find a proper place to store the usual kitchen stool and for this reason we have designed a fold away step which may be of different heights sufficient to allow the housewife to reach the upper shelves and may be folded away against the inside of the door of the lower kitchen cabinet and thus be completely out of the way and out of sight when not in use.

The step of our improved design is arranged to slide up and down on a plate attached to the inside of a cabinet door so that when moved upward it can be folded flat and locked in position inside the door and when moved downward and unfolded it comes into engagement with the floor below the door in whatever position to which the door has been opened and provides a solid step which does not provide any strain on the door itself when used as a step.

Further features of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the invention having reference to the accompanying two sheets of drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows the step folded up against the inside of the door of a kitchen cabinet or the like.

FIG. 2 shows the step opened out and slid downward against the floor in position for use.

FIG. 3 is a front View partly in section with the front plate cut away to show the sliding arrangement of the back plate of the step on the stationary plate.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the folded step looking upward on line 55 of FIG. 1, to show the locking notches holding the step locked in folded away position against the door.

The illustrated embodiment of our invention comprises a mounting plate 3 rigidly secured by screws 4 to the inner lower side of a door 2. The plate 3 has its sides turned forward to provide a pair of side flanges 5 and 6. A pair of flanges 7 and 8 are turned forward and then out parallel to plate 3 over the edges of a long vertical slot 9 in a sliding plate 10. The plate 10 as stated has the long vertical slot 9 by means of which the plate may be moved up and down from the upward position shown in FIG. 1 to the lowest downward position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Plate 10 forms the back of the folding step and has its sides turned forward to form flanges 11 and 12 which are formed to fit inside of flanges 5 and 6 of mounting plate 3 and slide up and down inside flanges 5 and 6 as plate 10 is moved up and down. The plate 10 has a heavy metal plate 13 riveted across its upper edge as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with its upper edge bent out and up as shown in FIG. 4 to form an inner support for the step when folded out and down. The upper edge of back plate 10 is bent inward at 10a, FIG. 4, and has a pair of ice ears 14 and 15 bent inward from the flanges 11 and 12 and havingrivets pushing therethrough and through the back corners of step plate 16 as shown in FIG. 3. The top plate 16 forms the top of the step and has a rubber pad 19 cemented to its top surface. The side edges of top plate 16 are turned downward as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 at 17 and 18 which have a pair of ears extending backward which are pivoted by the rivets-or pins shown in FIG. 3 extending through the ears 14 and 15 of back plate 10. It will be seen that the downward flanges 17 and 18 of step 16 lie inside of flanges '5 and 6 of mounting plate 3 and are in line with flanges 11 and 12 of back plate 10. The front edges of the sides 17 and 18 of top plate 16 are pivoted at 2 0 and 21 to the upper inwardly turned edges of a front plate 22 as seen in FIGS. 2 and 4. The front plate 22 has outer flanges 23 and 24 which are-bent inward so that when the step is folded these flanges 23 and 24 fall outside of the flanges 5 and6 as seen in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5. The top plate flanges 17 and 18 are notched at 25 and 26 and these notches are aligned with notches 27 and 28 in the flanges 23 and 24 of front plate 22 when the step is folded. A finger hole 29 is provided in front plate 22 to pull the step open from its folded position. The links 30 and 31 also link the front plate 22 with the flanges 11 and 12 of plate 10. The link 30 is pivoted at 32 to an indented portion of flange 11 and at the point 33 to an ear turned in from front plate 22. The link 31 is similarly pivoted at 34 to flange 12 (FIG. 4) and at 35 to a second car turned in front plate 22. The lower portions of front plate 22 and plate 10 are covered with a rubber footing at 36 and 37 where these plates come to rest on the floor. FIG. 2 shows the step in operating position when the door 2 is opened to any desired position. Plate 22 is pulled forward from the folded position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, with the plate 10 slid downward inside of flanges 7 and 8 until the lower ends of plates 22 and 10 engage the floor under the door. A hump 38 is bumped out in the upper end of flange 5 of plate 3 and a similar hump 39 is provided at a registering point in the middle of flange 24 as seen in FIG. 4. When the step is raised and folded against the door as seen in FIG. 1, these notches register and lock together to hold the step in locked positions as seen in FIGS. 1 and 5.

It will thus be seen that we have provided a very handy and useful step to be installed on the lower inside corner of the door of a kitchen cabinet or like cupboard which may be folded up in a raised position on the inside of the door so as to lie wholly within the cabinet when the door is closed. When the door is opened, the housewife merely inserts a finger into the finger hold 29 to pull out the step so that the plates 22 and 10 are spaced apart with step 16 in horizontal position and that plate 10 may slide downward on the flanges 7 and 8 until the bottom rubberized bases of these two plates engage the floor below the door. The door may be only slightly opened or widely opened so that the step will be used for access to a shelf directly above the cabinet having a door 2 or the cabinet adjacent thereto. No strain is applied to the door in using this step, as the base rests on the floor and the top plate 16 of the step rests on one edge on the top of plate 22 and the other edge on the top of plate 13 of plate 10.

Having fully described and ascertained the various features and aspects of our invention what we consider to be new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent will be pointed out in the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A foldaway step for the inside of a door, comprising a mounting plate secured to the inner lower surface of the door and having a back plate for the step slidably mounted on the mounting plate and movable downward beyond the edge of the door toengage the floor and slidable upward on the mounting plate to a position within the area of the door, a top plate for the step having a pad of resilient material on its upper surface, a front plate for the step, said top plate and front plate pivoted to the slidable back plate and folding outward therefrom with the front and back plate engaging the floor at their lower ends and the top plate lying in a horizontal position to form a foot step, said front plate and said mounting plate having side flanges meshing together when the front and top plates are folded up against the mounting plate, with means on the flanges cooperating to lock the step in foldaway position with all plates lying within the outside dimensions of the inside of the door.

2. A foldaway step for the inside of a door comprising a mounting plate rigidly secured to the inner lower surface of thedoor and having outer flanges extending forward from the edges of the plate and a pair of centrally located flanges near the center of the plate, a back plate for the step assembly having a vertical slot in the center thereof, with said center flanges lying within said slot folding outward to form the step and'the front and back plates slidable downward by means of said slot and flange to engage the floor, the outer flanges of the front plate folding over the outer flanges of the mounting plate when folded together, and having means onthe flanges of the mounting and front plates cooperating to lock all flanges in place parallel to each other when folded.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,491,039 Voina-Hansen Apr. 24, 1924 1,796,569 Mads en Mar. 17, 1931 2,581,488 Keltner Jan. 8, 1952 2,827,215 Burg Mar. 18, 1958 

1. A FOLDAWAY STEP FOR THE INSIDE OF A DOOR, COMPRISING A MOUNTING PLATE SECURED TO THE INNER LOWER SURFACE OF THE DOOR AND HAVING A BACK PLATE FOR THE STEP SLIDABLY MOUNTED ON THE MOUNTING PLATE AND MOVABLE DOWNWARD BEYOND THE EDGE OF THE DOOR TO ENGAGE THE FLOOR AND SLIDABLE UPWARD ON THE MOUNTING PLATE TO A POSITION WITHIN THE AREA OF THE DOOR, A TOP PLATE FOR THE STEP HAVING A PAD OF RESILIENT MATERIAL ON ITS UPPER SURFACE, A FRONT PLATE FOR THE STEP, SAID TOP PLATE AND FRONT PLATE PIVOTED TO THE SLIDABLE BACK PLATE AND FOLDING OUTWARD THEREFROM WITH THE FRONT AND BACK PLATE ENGAGING THE FLOOR AT THEIR LOWER ENDS AND THE TOP PLATE LYING IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION TO FORM A FOOT STEP, SAID FRONT PLATE AND SAID MOUNTING PLATE HAVING SIDE FLANGES MESHING TOGETHER WHEN THE FRONT AND TOP PLATES ARE FOLDED UP AGAINST THE MOUNTING PLATE, WITH MEANS ON THE FLANGES COOPERATING TO LOCK THE STEP IN FOLDAWAY POSITION WITH ALL PLATES LYING WITHIN THE OUTSIDE DIMENSIONS OF THE INSIDE OF THE DOOR. 